Microsoft’s cloud-based office suite – Office 365 – is one of the most popular software solutions among small to medium businesses. Offering a wide variety of plans and the familiar Office programs, it’s not difficult to see why. The issue many offices face however is staying on top of all the information generated within Office 365. To help, Microsoft has recently announced a new Office 365 feature called Office Delve.
What is Office Delve?
The idea behind Office Delve is that it’s a tool that helps business users get the most out of their data and information related to Office 365. According to Microsoft, Delve will allow you to:
- Discover new information – Delve has been designed to show you information from different sources in Office 365 that you may find useful for what you are currently working on.
- Discover what you need – Documents you have seen before, or have recently worked on, are highlighted and made easier for you to find, regardless of where they are stored. This makes it less taxing to find work you have been doing in the past, and continue from where you left off.
- Discover new connections – Typing a name in Office 365 will allow you to see what a user is working on, their connections, and even connect with them to build relationships and share information.
How does it work?
In order to provide the information and data that users will likely find useful, Delve is powered by a tool Microsoft calls Office Graph. Graph maps the relationships between the various Office 365 users in your company, and the content/information related to them.
This ‘map’ is then used by Delve to provide users with what they need, when they need it. Content and information is displayed on a card-based screen, which can be found under the Delve tab in the main Office 365 launch screen.
Aside from content such as profile information, links to documents, or information, users can also see: Likes, views, comments, and tags, which brings a deeper social integration into Office 365.
Delve also orders content a number of different ways, including:
- What you’ve recently worked on – Shows you content in card-form that you have recently opened or worked on.
- Content that has been shared with you – Shows the content your colleagues have shared with you.
- Content that has been presented to you – Shows content that colleagues have presented recently, or content that has been sent to you.
While this idea works great on the desktop, many Office 365 users access their systems from their mobile devices. Delve will also be available to mobile users. On your device you can browse the cards with files, swipe left or right on each card to view files, and even search for colleagues and view files they have shared with you and their recent activity.
When is Delve available?
Microsoft has noted that Delve is currently rolling out for businesses who have subscribed to the Office 365 Enterprise level plans (E1-E4) and have joined the first release program. Over the following months, it will roll out to all E1-E4 customers. In 2015, Microsoft has noted that they will introduce Delve to Business Essentials, Business Premium, Small Business, Small Business Premium and Mid Sized Business customers.
If you are looking to learn more about Delve, contact us today.